The Gyalwang Drukpa

I am in my humble residence in a remote area of Kathmandu, where I hope no one can find me and I cannot find anyone, packing and tidying my things which are currently still spread over the tables and the floor. I thought I could take a break, but I still find myself busy packing and unpacking. I guess this is the boring story of my life. Then on the table, I saw a book that says "Buddha's Life Story", and when I flipped through the pages, I ran into the story of the massacre of the Shakya Clan, a story that I want to share with you.

Buddha's own kingdom, Kapilavastu, has a very powerful neighbour, Kosala kingdom. Both kingdoms historically had been in conflicts. An interesting incident happened before Buddha got enlightened. King Prasenajit of Kosala sent an ambassador to Kapilavastu, the kingdom of Shakya clan, to propose to one of the princesses. But Shakya people generally looked down on Kosala people and saw them as barbarians, so the Buddha's father not wishing to upset the king of Kosala, married a slave girl who was disguised as a princess to him. The Buddha at that time did not agree to this idea, because it was not respecting Kosala kingdom and it was a bad deed to lie. His father did not listen and slave girl from Shakya clan became the Queen of Kosala.

Ten years after Buddha renounced his kingdom and 4 years after his enlightenment, he went back to his kingdom to teach. The Shakya people were so excited they built a beautifully ornamented altar for the Buddha. By this time, the King and Queen of Kosala had a son, Prince Virudhaka, who was 8 years old, and he was sent back to Kapilavastu to learn weaponry. The soldiers caught the young prince playing in the holy altar and their commander told the prince he was the son of a slave, therefore he had dirtied the altar. Prince Virudhaka became very insulted and angry, after knowing that Buddha's father tricked his father into marrying a slave, he vowed to take revenge against the Shakya clan.

There was peace at least for a while since King and Queen of Kosala were disciples of the Buddha. But after Prince Virudhaka forcefully seized power from his father, he declared war on the Shakyas. The Buddha stopped him three times, but by the fourth time the Buddha was suffering from a headache and could not stop the prince, the prince who had become the new king of Kosala, successfully marched towards Kapilavastu. Maha-Maudgalyayana, Buddha's disciple who was well-known for performing miracles, thought he could save at least 500 Shakyas by covering them up in his begging bowl and taking them out of Kapilavastu, but when he opened the bowl, there was only blood. The Buddha had told him that the law of karma could not be avoided when the karma ripened, no one could stop, not even someone who could perform miracles.

After the tragedy, the Buddha's disciples could not understand why the Buddha could not help his own people, the people of Shakya. The Buddha told them a story of an ancient past. There was a village and next to the village was a pond. One time due to drought and famine, there was nothing to eat, so the villagers ate the fish, prawns, clams and crabs easily taken from the drying pond.  There was even a huge fish of 8 to 9 feet long. Everyone enjoyed the meat of other animals, except a 3 years old child. He saw the big fish opening its mouth and thought it was very funny, he beat the fish head 3 times with a branch.

After many many lives, these villagers took rebirth as the people of Shakya clan. The huge fish took rebirth as Prince Virudhaka and his army were actually the fish, prawns, clams and crabs eaten cruelly by the villagers. The boy who beat the fish head was the Buddha himself. Even though the Buddha did not kill or eat any of the pond beings, he too had to suffer from headache because he beat the fish head 3 times. Together with the massacre of the entire Shakya clan, this is an example of collective karma.

This is interdependent origination, no one can escape the calculation of karma. When the conditions are suitable for the ripening karma, then whatever good or bad karma will come to show you the results of your past positive or negative deeds. There is a saying, the enlightened ones are afraid of the causes, the sentient beings are afraid of the results. There are two types of karma, one is the individual karma, one is the collective karma.